ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Over 2,300 facilities of the Islamic State terrorist group were destroyed by the Russian Aerospace Forces during a month. Photo: Sputnik / Dmitriy Vinogradov During a month, the Syrian Army liberated 52 populated localities and cleared 1,702 square kilometers of the country’s territory from terrorists. This became possible thanks to active actions of the Russian combat aviation, chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Colonel General Sergei Rudskoy, said. “The Russian Aerospace Forces performed 991 sorties, destroying 2,306 facilities of Daesh [the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group]. The airstrikes were carried out on command points, depots of arms and ammunition, destruction of which plays an important role in defeating of militants. On February 28, at 1:21 pm, a headquarters of one of the armed gangs of the Jabhat al Nusra group [currently known as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham] was destroyed by two KAB-500 guided aerial bombs. Sixty seven

The Popular Mobilization Units are going to start the second phase of its military operation to the west of Mosul city. Photo: alalam.ir The Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), also known as Al-Hashd Al-Sha’abi, are ready to launch a fresh round of military operations in order to recapture all regions, located to the west of Mosul city in Nineveh province, the Fars news agency reported, citing PMU spokesman Ahmad al-Assadi. “As the ground have been prepared for regaining control of Tal Afar, we [the PMU] are waiting for Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi to determine which military units will take part in the operations in western Mosul,” Al-Assadi told the news agency on Saturday. He also noted that the first phase of the PMU operations in the area, located to the west of Mosul, resulted in regaining control over 113 square kilometers of territories and tens of villages, as well as in cutting of supply routes of terrorists. “The Hashd al-Shaabi with all its units and groups has take

Pro-government forces, backed by the Rusian and Syrian air forces, have been rapidly advancing towards the Euphrates River in the province of Aleppo. Since March 4, the Syrian army and the National Defense Forces have liberated over 8 villages, including Abu Jarin, Atwiyat, Qasr Hadla, Tal Mai and Rasm Kbar and now are likely aiming to reach the Water Treatment plant which will allow government troops to increase the security of the water supplies to the city Aleppo. When this done, pro-government forces will likely focus on the ISIS stronghold of Deir Hafer. Meanwhile, the ISIS-linked Amaq news agency reported that over 130 airstrikes were delivered by Syrian and Russian warplanes against targets in the province. Click to see the full-size map

A video, showing missiles’ launches from the S-300PMU-2 air defense system in Iran, has been for the first time published online. Photo: YouTube / prtrtur The first video, showing a process of missiles’ launches from the S-300PMU-2 air defense missile weapon system in Iran has been published online. Initially, information about signing a contract for supply of the S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems from Russia to Iran appeared in November 2015. At that date, CEO of the Rostec state corporation, Sergei Chemezov, said that Iranian military were going to receive four divisions of the S-300PMU-2. Previously, they were meant for Syria, but had not been handed over to the Arab country at a request of Israel. According to the Kommersant newspaper, the deal value was approximately $1 billion. The newspaper noted that the customer could get the weapon systems about 18 months after the contract’s conclusion that meant that the first S-300PMU-2s would be transferred to Tehran not earl

Written by Sophie Mangal; Originally appeared at GlobalResearch The U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had presented a preliminary version of the Pentagon’s new plan to rapidly defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria during a meeting of the White House Principals Committee, a Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said оn February, 28. The plan involves making a “devastating impact” on the terrorist group. According to Davis, the document calls on all the branches of the U.S. government, diplomatic, financial and intelligence elements of national power as well as cyber-security agencies to unite and intensify joint actions. The plan is transregional and is aimed at defeating such terror groups as Al-Qaeda and ISIS around the globe. It also proposes to increase the U.S. military contingent in Syria and to cut off terrorists’ funding. However, after close examination Pentagon’s proposals raise a lot of provocative questions and may come in for sharp criticism. First of all, some W

A Saudi strategic military base, located in Najran province in the southwestern part of the kingdom, was struck and destroyed by the Zalzal-2 missile, launched by the Houthi-Saleh alliance, according to pro-Yemeni sources. The alliance launched several Katyusha rockets on the Saudi Rajla military base and then totally destroyed it with the Zalzal-2 missile. There are no reports about the number of casualties, suffered by the Saudi side. On Monday, the Houthi-Saleh alliance launched missiles and artillery shells on the al-Shabakeh and al-Fawaz military bases of the Saudi Army, located in the provinces of Najran and Jizan in the southern part of the kingdom. As a result, the bases were destroyed. Meanwhile, the al-Beit al-Abya, al-Sudanieh and al-Jabaneh military bases, located in Jizan province, were also hit by the alliance’s missiles. Saudi troops suffered heavy losses in the attacks. At the same time, a Saudi border guard lost his life at the al-Hanjar military base, located in the

These maps show the military situation in Palmyra and its countryside: Click to see the full-size map Click to see the full-size map Photos of the Palmyra Citadel and the Roman Theater via ANNA news reporter Oleg Blokhin:

FORMER SEN. DAN Coats’s wife Marsha and professional sports came up more frequently than CIA black sites and NSA surveillance powers during the Director of National Intelligence nominee’s confirmation hearing with the Senate intelligence committee Tuesday. Coats served on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence alongside many of the men and women tasked with assessing his readiness to lead the nation’s 17 intelligence agencies. The Indiana Republican announced his retirement in November 2015, before being asked by President Trump to take on the director of national intelligence job in January. His former colleagues kept things lighthearted during the unclassified session. Coats kicked off his testimony by comparing the DNI’s role to that of a head football coach. “There is a coach for offense, defense, special teams, one for quarterback and on and on it goes. But every team has a head coach. … I see the role of director of national intelligence as analogous for the head hole for th